Senate Appropriations Committee Releases and Approves FY26 THUD Spending Bill

The Senate Appropriations Committee released and approved on July 24 their fiscal year (FY) 2026 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) spending bill, which provides annual funding for HUD’s vital affordable housing, homelessness, and community development programs. Overall, the bill would provide $73.3 billion for HUD, an increase of around $3.3 billion from the flat funding provided in the previous fiscal year’s continuing resolution (CR), and significantly more than the $67.8 billion provided for HUD in the House’s draft FY26 spending bill. The Committee approved the bill with a final vote of 27-1, a demonstration of strong bipartisan support for increased HUD funding.  

As of this article’s writing, the full text of the Senate’s FY26 THUD proposal has just been made available; NLIHC will release our full analysis of the Senate’s FY26 THUD bill, and an updated budget chart, in Monday’s (July 28) Memo to Member and Partners. Read the Committee’s summary of the bill here.  

Like the House’s FY26 THUD spending proposal, the Senate’s proposal rejects the harmful funding cuts and policy proposals promoted in the Trump administration’s FY26 appropriations request, which would have overhauled and slashed funding for rental and homelessness assistance programs. Instead, the bill provides increased funding for some of NLIHC’s priority programs, including an additional $1.82 billion to renew existing Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) contracts, totaling $33.97 billion for contract renewals in FY26, and an increase of $479 million for the Homeless Assistance Grants (HAG) program, for a total of $4.53 billion. The bill also maintains $1.25 billion in funding for the HOME Investment Partnership program, which was zeroed out in the President’s proposal and the House’s draft FY26 THUD spending bill.  

While these increases are welcome, the funding allocated for TBRA contract renewals will likely fall short of what would be required to ensure all existing TBRA contracts are renewed; moreover, the Senate’s THUD proposal does not include funding to ensure the continuation of the Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program, which currently serves over 59,000 households who had previously been experiencing housing instability or homelessness. Without funding to continue the EHV program, or to successfully transition EHV recipients to another TBRA program, these households may lose the assistance they rely on to keep a roof over their heads.  

Take Action!  

Congress has until October 1—the beginning of the federal fiscal year—to draft, negotiate, and pass final FY26 spending bills. Without a final spending agreement, Congress will need to enact a short-term funding patch known as a CR to maintain funding for federal programs and avoid a partial federal government shutdown. While Republicans control both the House and the Senate, any spending bill needs at least 60 votes to pass the Senate, so final appropriations bills will need bipartisan support to be enacted.    

Keep the pressure on your representatives by contacting your members of Congress and urging them to protect and expand investments in vital affordable housing and homelessness programs!   

Use NLIHC’s toolkits and resources to take action on FY26 funding, including by:   

• Using NLIHC’s advocacy toolkit, “Opposing Cuts to Federal Investments in Affordable Housing,” to call on Congress to protect and expand affordable housing and homelessness resources, including NLIHC’s priorities:   

  • Full funding to renew all existing Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) contracts and funding to renew 60,000 Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHVs).    

  • $5 billion for the Public Housing Capital Fund, and $5.72 billion for the Public Housing Operating Fund.  

  • $4.922 billion for HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants (HAG) program.   

  • $20 million for the Eviction Protection Grant Program (EPGP).   

  • At least $1.3 billion for HUD’s Tribal Housing Programs and $150 million for competitive funds targeted to Tribes with the greatest needs.   

The toolkit includes talking points, advocacy materials, engagement ideas, and more resources for advocates to weigh-in with their members of Congress on the importance of these vital resources!    

• Emailing or calling members’ offices to tell them about the importance of affordable housing, homelessness, and community development resources to you, your family, your community, or your work. You can use NLIHC’s Take Action page to look up your member offices or call/send an email directly!  

• Sharing stories of those directly impacted by homelessness and housing instability. Storytelling adds emotional weight to your message and can help lawmakers see how their policy decisions impact actual people. Learn about how to tell compelling stories with this resource.   

National, state, local, Tribal, and territorial organizations can also join over 2,700 organizations on CHCDF’s national letter calling on Congress to support the highest level of funding possible for affordable housing, homelessness, and community development resources in FY26.    

Visit NLIHC’s Advocacy Hub for more information and resources that can help you take action and help protect the affordable housing programs people rely on!